We can thus see a fundamental psychological difference between human action in a free society and human behavior as we are accustomed to observing it. In order to understand human action under conditions of freedom, therefore, we must rise above our limitations of historical perspective. Because the institutions and conditions of a free society would differ radically from those of the present day, we cannot reasonably assume that its citizens would think and behave in the same ways that they do today. By way of comparison, we should remember how even enlightened thinkers who observed black people under conditions of slavery, such as Jefferson and Lincoln, were unable to conceive of them as free, fully equal, and productive individuals (cf. p. 4 and "Details" box on p. 4.11:81). We should strive to learn from the error of these past observers, avoiding a myopic view of men and women that evaluates them by their modest achievements in a society dominated by force, such as our own. In this analysis we examine, not human beings as seen in their present state, but human potential—more particularly, the aspects of that potential that are most likely to be realized by free individuals.